Let's
start 2014 with a depressing story about the reprehensible way in which big
companies get in bed with big government.
If
asked to list the example of cronyism that I find most nauseating, the Export-Import
Bank would be at the top of my list.
The
Obamacare handouts for Big
Insurance and Big
Pharma obviously belong on the list as well.
But
don't forget the corrupt
TARP giveaways to Wall Street, the handouts
for GM (though at least we got some good
parody from that farce), the corrupt
H&R Block collusion with the IRS, and the sleazy
ethanol handouts to agribusinesses.
We
could list more examples, but let's look at something from today's newspapers.
We normally think of the light-bulb ban as silly environmentalism, but the
invaluable Tim Carney writes
in the Washington Examiner that the real impetus was from corrupt
companies.
Say
goodbye to the regular light bulb this New Year. ...Starting Jan. 1, the famous
bulb is illegal to manufacture in the U.S., and it has become a fitting symbol
for the collusion of big business and big government.
Tim
explains how companies worked the political system.
People
often assume green regulations like this represent the triumph of environmental
activists trying to save the plant. That’s rarely the case, and it wasn't here.
Light bulb manufacturers whole-heartedly supported the efficiency standards.
General Electric, Sylvania and Philips — the three companies that dominated the
bulb industry — all backed the 2007 rule... The lighting industry was the main
reason the legislation was moving. ...“Philips formed a coalition with
environmental groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council to push for
higher standards.”
Equally
important, Tim explains why the companies thought cronyism was an effective way
to line their pockets with undeserved wealth.
Competitive
markets with low costs of entry have a characteristic that consumers love and
businesses lament: very low profit margins. GE, Philips and Sylvania dominated
the U.S. market in incandescents, but they couldn’t convert that dominance into
price hikes. Because of light bulb’s low material and manufacturing costs, any
big climb in prices would have invited new competitors to undercut the giants —
and that new competitor would probably have won a distribution deal with
Wal-Mart. So, simply the threat of competition kept profit margins low on the
traditional light bulb. ...the bulb-makers turned to government. Philips teamed
up with NRDC. GE leaned on its huge lobbying army — the largest in the nation —
and soon they were able to ban the low-profit-margin bulbs.
The
better alternative, needless to say, is freedom.
There
is a middle ground between everyone using traditional bulbs and traditional
bulbs being illegal. It's called free choice: Let people choose if they want
more efficient and expensive bulbs. Maybe they'll chose LEDs for some purposes
and cheap bulbs for others. But consumer choice is no good either for
nanny-staters or companies seeking high profit margins.
Reading
Tim's piece, it makes me wonder what sleaze was involved in the rules
forcing us to use inferior washing machines.
P.S.
Here are my 10 most-viewed posts of 2013.
*Last
January, I shared
some gun control humor and readers must like mocking the gun grabbers
because that post easily got the most views.
*And
in October, Libertarian
Jesus racked up the second-highest number of views.
*Interestingly,
the third most-viewed post was one from 2012. I guess you won't be surprised to
learn it was another
example of gun control humor.
*We
also go into the archives - back to 2011 - for the post with the fourth-highest
number of views. It's the classic
set of cartoons about the rise and fall of the welfare state.
*Another
oldie came in fifth place with this
2012 post featuring - you guessed it - gun control humor.
*In
sixth place, we get some 2012 lessons on how
a story about beer can be used to explain the failures of class warfare tax
policy.
*We
finally see another 2013 post with our revelation
about the most free-market "state" in North America.
*But
then we return to 2011 because lots of people waited until 2013 before reading
the classroom
experiment with socialism.
*In
ninth place, you can read
a libertarian fantasy from last April.
*Rounding
out the top 10 is a celebration
of Obama's biggest fiscal defeat.
My
favorite
post of the year, for what it's worth, reveals my fiscal wonkiness.
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